The Way It Hurts

We rated this book:

$10.99

The Way it Hurts is supposedly written for a younger teen audience, but the theme of the novel is intended for an older, mature audience. It is more of a moral lesson on the use and abuse of social media and misinterpretations rather than a story about teenagers. The story follows a player-type guy who is in a band and a girl who has dreams of being an actress. It is a bit predictable and stereotypical. The two hate each other at first, but they secretly like each other.

As someone who is not that interested in social media, this is not a book that I recommend. The author does not have any complex word-use or imagery. In fact, there is a significant amount of vulgar gestures and profanity. It’s as if the author is trying too hard to imitate teen life and missed the mark. The characters were not like anyone I could relate to or would associate with in real life.

Before reading Firstborn, I was expecting some type of quasi-dystopian, Mulan-type situation book filled with action and adventure with an emotional twist. All I got was the emotional twist. Tiadone, Tia, was raised as a boy as her parents only had two options, let her die, or raise her as someone she obviously is not. Not an easy task for any girl coming into womanhood. When faced with the challenge of showing her father she is a worthy male, staying true to her faith, and completing her rites, she finds her body, both mentally and physically, reacting to her best friend, which places an undue burden upon her. What is a girl to do who wasn’t even raised a girl?

Her plight and struggles are valid, but at some point I was waiting for her to either “man up” and take on the society who suppresses her, or he to kiss her father and leave. Both would have led to potentially good sequels. But, that never happened. This book fell short of what I was expecting, and I think with some improvising, it could be made into a really great book. I recommend this is a library check-out read.

Ever since Vero was a child he has always wanted to fly; he has always loved the feeling of the air in his face. One day, riding on the bus, Vero sees a car swerve into his lane driven by a man with fiery red eyes. No one else could see the man, so Vero is taken to a psychiatrist to examine his sanity. There Vero is chased by demonic creatures onto the roof, and falls nine stories to his death. He is greeted by the angel Uriel, who tells him that Vero is a guardian angel, and as such he will have to go to Guardian Angel School, where he will learn to fly. As he and his fellow classmates go on different assignments as part of their training, they grow closer as a team. Vero returns to Earth and it is as if the demons had never happened. Vero tries to master guardian angel duties; however, as Vero is sent on increasingly difficult missions, he struggles to keep them secret from his family.

I liked this book. I liked that Vero and other characters were three-dimensional and had cares and feelings and realistic motivations. It was really easy to see Vero’s character development, and he improved a lot from the beginning to the end of the book, which was really good.

David has been possessed by a Japanese god called a Kami. In the last book, he defeated two Japanese monsters, and thought they were gone for good, but now they are back and want revenge on David because he stalled their plans. David and his friends must discover what the enemies’ plans are before they strike, and must be prepared all the time. Simultaneously, they must prepare for the school play and participate in field trips and all the typical high school drama, but it is extra-dramatic because David has strong feelings for his host sister and doesn’t know if she feels the same way about him.

I feel like this book was just a ‘filler’ novel; only three really important things happened. There was too much teenage drama, and the characters did not have very strong personalities; there was very little development in this book. They weren’t even very consistent. I want to read the next book to see what happens, though; there is a significant promise for the next installment in the series.

This book was creepy but still a good story. The story begins as Jacob, Emma, and the other Peculiar children leave the island home they have always known to escape the evil Wights. Their protector, Miss Peregrine, is stuck in the form of a bird, and to help her they have to find another protector to change her back. Unfortunately, the Wights have been capturing all the protectors for an unknown purpose, so the children have to journey to WWII London in search of someone who can help. Along the way, they meet many other Peculiar people, not all of whom are good. Jacob is in love with Emma, and she shares his feelings, but feels that Jacob should leave the Peculiar world and go back to his own family while he still can, while the other children can’t. But they have to save Miss Peregrine, and Jacob is also trying to pick up his grandfather’s legacy of being a Hollowgast slayer.

In the story there are lots of black-and-white vintage photographs which illustrate the characters and the scenes. They were intriguing and creepy, and it was an interesting story woven around these genuine photos. I think sometimes the author just added in characters to go along with the photos, but I enjoyed the story.

While I haven’t been the biggest fan of the books in this series, I was won over by the novella Neferet’s Curse so when I got my hands on this book, which is also about Neferet, I was eager to continue the journey of her story. Again we find her life in utter turmoil with death looming, a dire fight in the midst and an ending, well, the ending just never happens leaving the book open to yet another book in this series. This book, like the title, reveals Neferet’s past giving a bit more info into her world laying out her story and all of its darkness. Then there is Zoey who now has to deal with her return.

I just can’t help but feel that the Cast’s are trying to relate and write like teenagers, but it is done poorly and the overuse of the F word makes teens look like we are all awful, foul mouthed, wildlings. It is just too extreme and almost offensive. However, I really like Neferet and most of the problems can be overlooked because of her. I am on the fence about buying this book. Maybe just grab a copy from the library first.